Almost two weeks after the publication of the unveiling video “A Palace for Putin” by the Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny, which has been viewed a million times, a confidante of President Waldimir Putin has declared himself the owner of the property.
He is the beneficiary, said the oligarch Arkadi Rotenberg in a video published on Saturday in the Telegram news channel Mash. “It’s no longer a secret.” He bought the system several years ago.
Oligarch is President Putin’s ex-judo partner
Rotenberg is the ex-judo partner of the Kremlin boss and has known him for years. The 69-year-old is considered to be one of the richest people in Russia. He is on a list of Russians who are sanctioned by the West in the wake of the war in eastern Ukraine.
For a long time there was speculation about who owned the property with the palace on the Black Sea in southern Russia. Putin denied on Monday that the property belonged to him or his close relatives.
In the video, Rotenberg raved about the palace: “This is a gift from heaven. The place is beautiful. ”When asked why he hadn’t spoken up earlier, he cited a“ purely human factor ”as the reason. “There are already sanctions against me anyway.” Rotenberg’s press office told the Interfax agency that work was currently underway to build a hotel. He hopes these will be completed in a few years.
According to Nawalny’s film, the property including the palace is almost 40 times the size of Monaco and is said to have already devoured more than 100 billion rubles (1.1 billion euros). According to the opposition, the ownership structure has been deliberately concealed. The video has already been viewed more than 103 million times on YouTube – and put the Kremlin under pressure.
In addition to the imprisonment of Nawalny, the film was also one of the triggers for the mass protests last weekend. New demonstrations are planned for this Sunday in Russia.
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